Snowpiercer, Season 2, Episode 2 “Smolder to Life”
Air Date: Monday, February 1, 2021 at 9:00 PM ET/PT on TNT
Reviewer Rating: 4 Stars
***WARNING: Some Spoilers Ahead***
“King Layton!” – Mr. Wilford
Civil unrest continues to simmer, sometimes boiling over into heinous acts of violence aboard Snowpiercer. With the arrival of Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean), some of the passengers believe he’s there to save them while others fear it’s a sign of the end to their newfound freedom. And is the earth coming back to life? Perhaps Layton (Daveed Diggs) is right – that “hope” can be the rallying cry to help bring all the passengers on Snowpiercer and Big Alice together; that’s easier said than done.
Season 2 of Snowpiercer is intense. It’s only episode 2, “Smolder to Life,” and things are certainly more dramatic and shocking than I anticipated. There is a specific scene that warrants a PSA at the end of the episode regarding suicide prevention. It’s f**ked up what happens and I am still a bit perplexed as to why it had to happen.
In last week’s season premiere, “The Time of Two Trains,” the head of Big Alice’s hospitality, Kevin (Tom Lipinski), was wooed by the sweet temptation of a fresh mango and was captured. Like Layton who was enticed to investigate a murder by a hot bowl tomato soup and gooey grilled cheese in season one’s premiere; Kevin spilled some vital secrets about Big Alice over a plate of buffalo chicken wings. This betrayal, at least in Mr. Wilford’s eyes, earned him a death sentence.
I must say, Mr. Wilford knows how to lure people into a false sense of security. As he draws a warm bath, complete with bath salts, for Kevin, Mr. Wilford not only gleans information about Snowpiercer but also what details Kevin leaked about the state of Big Alice and her passengers. The scene is hauntingly disturbing. Not only does Mr. Wilford get in the tub with Kevin (yes, they are both naked), having the dog come in and lap up the bloody bathwater is something you can’t unsee. Ever.
Throughout “Smolder to Life,” there are many different storylines that overlap and intertwine. One of the main things is that sample of snow that Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) collected. It’s been analyzed and she’s being strategically deceptive about the meaning behind the significance of the “ammonium sulfate” found in the sample. Fast forward to an “emergency summit” which Mr. Wilford attends aboard Snowpiercer in the first-class dining car where the truth is revealed.
After deploying a weather balloon from Snowpiercer, Melanie, Bennett (Iddo Goldberg), and Javier (Roberto Urbina) discovery the temperature above Earth’s surface atmosphere is warming up. Where it’s -119 degrees Fahrenheit outside, above the clouds, it’s a balmy -86. Still cold AF but warmer than anyone thought it would be in only seven short years. The question is – how long will it take for the earth to be inhabitable again?
Playing devil’s advocate for a moment. Let’s not forget the timeline of the 2013 film, which is set 15 years after the earth is plunged into an ice age. Perhaps this so-called hope is all for naught.
A few key things I noticed:
- With the addition of Big Alice, the train is now “1,034 cars long.”
- Zarah (Sheila Vand) seems to be living out a fantasy thinking just because she’s sharing a car with Layton, and carrying his child, that they are going to mend things. But when a ghost from the past emerges in the form of a “Jane Doe” in the medical recovery car, things take a sharp turn.
- Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright) is downright giddy when she receives an official “communiqué” from Mr. Wilford. She lives and breathes hospitality and all that it entails. Wright’s performance is superb!
- The new faces and new train cars showcased this season are quite intriguing. Where has the religious car been all this time? It even comes complete with its own pastor, Pastor Logan (Bryan Terrell Clark).
- Former Brakeman Bess Till (Mickey Sumner) is now the new train Detective. Her first case is to find out who cut off a Lights’ (Miranda Edwards) fingers.
- Lights has had her thumb and pinky brutally cut off, leaving only three fingers which make the shape of a ‘W’. And in one of the final scenes of the episode, you see Mr. Wilford greeting passengers with three fingers held up as they shout his name in adoration.
- Pike (Steven Ogg) trades weed for encyclopedias…why? What’s he up to?
- Melanie’s strange vision of a little girl holding and gutting a dead rabbit troubles me. Is that some metaphor for her childhood or a glimpse of her past life? Regardless, it’s creepy.
- SPOILER ALERT: Layton discovers that Josie (Katie McGuinness) is alive. I’m still shocked that Zarah told him but more shocked that Josie survived. A clue to her survival is revealed when the nurse (Ajay Banks) says two Brakemen brought her to the infirmary after the nitrogen incident* with Melanie. [*NOTE: refer to season one, episode 7 “The Universe Is Indifferent.”]
- Mr. Wilford’s weak attempt to have Alexandra assassinate Layton during the summit seems contrived. I don’t know if Alexandra could have done it. Her clumsiness at hiding the homemade shiv resulting in cutting herself seems a bit too dramatic. And what’s up with her leaving a bloody handprint on her way back to Big Alice?
The way to detect if the temperatures are truly rising is for someone to stay in a research facility in the Rocky Mountains for a month. It seems the only person for the job is Melanie, something she failed to mention to Layton and Alexandra but brought to light by Mr. Wilford as a decidedly sharp point. One would think the prospect of the world’s ice age coming to an end would be wonderful news yet the look on Mr. Wilford’s face doesn’t show signs of elation; he actually looks dreadful.
I’m waiting with bated breath to learn more about Icy Bob (Andre Tricoteux) and the experiments Kevin mentioned that the two doctors, The Headwoods (Damian Young and Sakina Jaffrey) have been performing. I hope Layton can get some of that glorious “goo” that healed Melanie’s frostbite for Josie. She really needs it.
PSA: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 and/or Text ‘HOME’ to Crisis Text Line at 741741.
For more on Snowpiercer, go to https://www.tntdrama.com/snowpiercer
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Judy Manning
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